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New Braunfels Herald Zeitung (Newspaper) - July 20, 1982, New Braunfels, Texas
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10 J? r •/ £ 0 /1 ^Hinman Island improvements closer
By HENRY KRAUSSE Staff writer
Even without some expected help from the private sector, the City ct New Braunfels could come up with the money for a Hinman Island Park development project, City Manager E.N. Delashmutt told a park committee Monday.
In his strongest endorsement of the project since his staff began working on it last month, Delashmutt said the availability of matching state funds to improve the park made it a “now or never” situation.
Meeting with less than half its membership present, the Hinman Island Park Improvement Coordinating Committee, a body that last met in May, 1980, voted to support the project.
Five committee members, plus City Council members Gerald Schaefer and Joe Rogers, absorbed a briefing on the proposal from Don Simon, city parks director.
With the cost estimated at $240,000, Chairman Russell Vollbrecht urged those present to get in touch with other committee members to enlist their respective civic groups and organizations in a search for funds.
The grant application, if City Council approves it Monday, will be submitted in time to meet an Aug. I deadline for a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department grant.
But the city will need to commit itself to funding its half of the cost, $120,000.
Delashmutt said Council action could unlock $10,000 budgeted for park walkways, plus $20,000 already earmarked for Hinman Island improvements.
Possible gifts of $25,000 from the Wurstfest Association and $20,000 from the Rotary Club still leave $45,000 unaccounted for, but Delashmutt said there were “some other possible funds I’m not at liberty to discuss without bringing it to Council first.”
“Suppose the $45,000 (from Wurstfest and Rotary) is available. Can we raise the rest?” asked David Hartman, the committee secretary.
“You are counting, then, on Rotary and Wurstfest?” committee member Carroll Hoffman asked.
“One way or another, we’ll get the money," Delashmutt said. “The city will use every possible means to fund it, plus whatever help we get from those civic clubs. This’ll be our last opportunity.”
“Wurstfest. has indicated they’re willing to work with the city,” and Rotary’s answer could come by the end of the week, he said.
The project calls for a metal bulkhead, faced with lumber, to support an eight-foot jogging trail along the Comal River, with three sets of steps providing access to the water.
Simon said the development would control crowds by separating different types of activity: swimming, sun
bathing, walking, jogging, picnic and playground areas would be clearly defined and out of each other’s way.
“The people are there now, and we have to cope with it. Most cities that apply for the grant do it with the idea of drawing people, but that's not our problem here,” Simon said.
The news media was cautioned not to describe the purpose of the project as erosion control.” Although it would have the effect of reducing wear and tear on the Comal River’s banks, any mention of erosion control “may hurt our chances” for the grant, Simon said.
For purposes of the Parks and Wildlife grant, it was described as a “recreational facility development plan.”
“We’ve been procrastinating on this for a good while. Right now’s the time to leap,” Rogers said.
Schaefer said of the project, “It looks good, if we can afford it. And since this may be the last c hance, we'll afford it.”
TUESDAY July 20, 1982 25 cents
(USPS 377-880)
London bombing
Nine dead; IRA claims creditZeituno
14 Pages
LONDON (AP) — IRA bombs, one packed with nails, tore through a mounted cavalry unit and a military band in two London parks today, killing nine people, wounding 36 and sending victims and horses flying through the air, police said.
In the House of Commons, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher condemned the Irish Republican Army and declared: “These callous and cowardly crimes have been committed by evil and brutal men who know nothing of democracy and we shan’t rest until they are brought to justice.”
Scotland Yard said three people were killed in the attack on the queen’s Household Cavalry in Hyde Park, including at least two soldiers, and that civilians were among the wounded. Police said six people were killed at the bandstand blast in Regent’s Park, and one witness said all were soldiers.
The passing of the Household Cavalry, resplendent in silver breastplates and crimson uniforms, attracts hundreds of local and foreign spectators to Hyde Park every day for the changing of the guard ceremony. At least seven horses were killed by the nail bomb, which was placed in a parked car.
The outlawed Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility for the Hyde Park bombing, and British police said the second bomb also was the work of the IRA, which has been fighting for 13 years to oust Britain from Northern Ireland.
The bombings occurred on a bright summer day and Cmdr. William Hucklesby, commander of
New Braunfels, Texas Vol. 91 - No. 141
Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist branch, said there was no warning. He said the car that blew up was packed with IO pounds of explosive containing four-to-six-inch nails.
The bomb at Regent’s Park, where London Zoo is located, went off at a bandstand where the Royal Green Jackets regiment band was playing for dozens of spectators, including many elderly people.
One witness, Ronald Benjamin, said: “I was just sitting in a deckchair looking at the band when everything seemed to come up from the bottom of the bandstand and blow right in the air — the bodies, the instruments, everything.
"A leg came within five feet of me. It was blown right off. There were mangled bodies all over the deckchairs.” “There were soldiers lying there with all their intestines out,” Miriam Sheridan, a witness to the Regent’s Park bombing, said.
“There was such a tremendous crash I couldn’t believe it.”
A witness to the Hyde Park bombing said: “Horses were literally thrown in the air and there were injured lying all over the place. “There was blood everywhere. It was terrible.”
• The blast occurred a half-mile from Buckingham Palace while the queen was in residence, palace spokeswoman Ann Neill said. She said the explosion shook the palace windows.
The bomb went off at ll a.m. (5 a.m. COT) in a parked car a few yards from the passing cavalry
See BOMBING, Page 14
Cu/vert's-eye view
A truck passes over the old Solms Rd. Bridge witfi the General Portland plant in the background. The culvert and the dirt are part of the materials already delivered to the site of the new Solms Rd. bridge, to
Staff photo by John Sen ter
be built just to the north of the present one. The bridge is expected to be completed by tile Comal County Road Department in four months.New Braunfels
Jail plans
Population research first step
By JACQUELINE SMITH Staff writer
For the next couple of months, Comal County will be under the watchful eye of Austin architects.
These architects, of the firm of Holt, Fatter and Scott, will be conducting a demographic study that will eventually be used to plan for a new county jail.
Phil Scott, of the architectural firm, introduced his company’s proposal for such a study before Commissioners Court Monday.
Before he presented the proposal, however, Scott asked that Commissioners not discuss the proposal Monday, but instead review it until next Monday, when he plans to be back in court to answer their questions concerning the proposal.
The demographic study, Scott
told commissioners, will give them an indication of population growth trends, impact of recreational populations and an idea of how big a new jail would have to be to “meet current and future needs.”
Although the results of the demographic study will be used mainly for jail planning, Scott said that the study “is something that should stand alone st* that any agency in the county could use it for planning purposes.” Until his firm gets more involved in the study, Scott said he would not be able to suggest possible land sites on which to build the new jail.
“You’ll probably be going into an industrialized commercial area,” Scott told commissioners.
See JAIL, Page 14
Second Amdro handout set
Just when the fire ants thought it was safe to come out again, Comal Commissioners have begun planning for the county’s second shipment of fire ant insecticide.
Commissioners will distribute Amdro, a fire ant insecticide, Saturday from 8 a.m. til noon at the County Warehouse, which is located on Highway 46, approximately 7*2 miles west of New Braunfels.
Comal County has received 7,000 pounds of Amdro from the Texas Department of Agriculture, County Judge Max Wommack announced Monday. Unlike the first shipment (sold in May), however, the county did not receive any MC-96, he added.
Even though the county is getting more insecticide in this
shipment, commissioners still set limits Monday on how much one person could buy.
County residents will be limited to one five-pound bag of Amdro. Ranchers and others owning large areas of land, however, may buy up to 24 pounds (one case) of Amdro.
Those wishing to purchase up to 24 pounds, however, must bring proof of their acreage, such as a receipt from the tax office, commissioners stated.
Comal County (along with numerous other Texas counties) is getting the insecticide at reduced cost from the Texas Department of Agriculture.
The county in turn agreed to sell the insecticide at a $1 a pound to county residents.
-JACQUELINE SMITH
NB resident dies after beating
Bv DEBBIE TURNER Staff writer
Arnulfo E. “Shorty" Martinez.. 48, of 1354 Katy died Monday as a result of a beating he received sometime Thursday night or early Friday morning.
Early this morning, the New Braunfels Police Department Criminal Investigation Division received word Martinez’ death had been ruled a homicide, based on autopsy findings Monday afternoon. Martinez died at 5:55 a.m. Monday in Methodist Hospital in San Antonio.
Martinez’ whereabouts from late last Thursday night to the early morning hours of Friday, July
16, are still a mystery, Detective Felix Roque said Tuesday.
“He was seen at the Daily Double on West San Antonio Thursday night, and then we lose him until he showed up at his sister’s residence on Katy Street all beat up around 5 a m. Friday.” Roque said.
The detective stated the police were not called immediately, since Martinez' family members weren’t fully aware of the seriousness of his injuries. However, around 7:30 a.m., the police and the Emergency Medical Service were summoned.
Martinez was taken to McKenna Memorial Hospital, but was later transferred to Methodist Hospital. Obvious injuries were to Martinez' head, Roque stated
County Appraisers given raise by board's 3-2 vote
By DYANNE FRY Staff writer
Chief appraiser Glenn Brucks took a hard line on salary increases at Monday’s budget hearing for the Comal County Appraisal District.
Acknowledging directors’ previously-voiced opposition to increases in 1983, Brucks gritted his teeth and asked for an across-the-board raise.
More than half his employees came to watch.
Directors gave him $16,CKK) to work with - and they did it without increasing the $479,018 budget under consideration.
The vote was split 3-2. Directors Charles Lewis (who had taken the strongest position against salary hikes) and Arnold Moos Sr. voted against George Erben’s motion to allow the $16,000
The other three directors apparently felt Brucks had made a good argument. He backed it up with statistics from Taylor, Wilson, Ball, Guadalupe, Travis and Hays county districts, as well as a statewide survey from the State Property Tax Board.
Before the increase was voted in, Brucks’ 1983 payroll budget came to $225,8(H). He calculated this to be 47.1 percent of the total budget. In the six districts he surveyed, salaries accounted for 49 to 61 percent of 1983 budget proposals.
Brucks also compared the number of property
parcels handled by each district to the number of employees in its office. For Comal County, with some 60,(HK) parcels and 14 employees, the ratio was 4,666 parcels to one person. Ratios in other districts’ ranged from 3,250 per employee ( Taylor County) to 1,077 per employee (Wilson County.)
The state survey took entire appraisal district operations and broke them down into average cost per parcel, coming up with a statewide average of $13.74. Brucks found that Comal County is spending $6.84 per parcel: Guadalupe1 $8.50 per parcel. Each of the other three he checked averaged more than $10.
He had budgeted $10,(KH) in a contingency fund for possible merit increases, as per a suggestion made by directors in June. With its split vote, the board agreed to move that money to the payroll section of the budget.
The additional $6,000 also came out of the contingency fund. Brucks had put $9,000 there for rent, hoping to find a bigger office some time next year.
“Do you really need a $9,000 contingency fund?” asked board chairman I^eroy Goodson in the middle of the pay-raise discussion.
“Not if you want to put it in salaries,” Brucks grinned. “I guess I could put up with this building for one more year.”
That vote, leaving $3,518 in the contingency fund, w'as unanimous.
A full autopsy report, stating the cause(s) of death won’t be available for two weeks.
Nevertheless, the case will be taken before the Comal County Grand Jury, slated ta convene Thursday. “We are working it (the case) as a murder, until we find out otherwise,” Roque said. “But say, if we discover through questioning, that Martinez was robbed iii the process, the charge could advance to capital murder
“But right now, it s a murder case, and we are soliciting anyone who might have seen Martinez Thursday night, or might have witnessed the assault,” Koqut added Contact with the Criminal Investigation Division may be made by calling 625-7181.T wo injured in cycle wreck
Two New Braunfelsers were injured in a motorcycle accident at 9:19 p.iii Monday iii the 200 block of Peace Ave.
Charles Patrick Reviea, the motorcycle’s operator, of 183 Rosewood was in stable condition at McKenna Memorial Hospital Tuesday. His passenger, Phillis Reviea, also taken to McKenna, was treated and released.
The motorcycle made a right turn onto Peace Ave., from Lamia Park entrance, and was headed north on Peace, when the driver int a slick spot in the road and lost control of the cycle. The cycle then slid out from under tin1
See POLICE, Page 14Inside
CLASSIFIED....... 11-13
COMICS............. 9 10
CROSSWORD........ , 10
DEAR ABBY..........................2
DEATHS.............................2
HOROSCOPE........................10
OPINIONS............................4
SPORTS............................6 7
STOCKS...........................14
TV LISTINGS.........................10
WEATHER.................. 2
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